Texas Law Expanding Medical Marijuana Takes Effect September 1

MCALLEN, Texas (ValleyCentral) — A law that will expand the use of medical marijuana in Texas will go into effect September 1.

“Each condition treated with medical marijuana is dosed very differently, its users very differently,” said Dr. Sujan Gogu, family, sports, and pain physician at South Texas Health System Clinics.

The expanded law under the compassionate use of medical marijuana will now be open to people like veterans who suffer from PTSD, cancer patients and other medical conditions. According to Dr. Gogu, there is still a process to follow.

“You would go to your primary care doctor and you would talk about the condition you have and see if it’s a viable option for you, it may or may not be a viable option for you,” he said.

What happens after the doctor approves your use of medical marijuana with other specialists?

Considering there are no dispensaries in the Rio Grande Valley and only a few in the state of Texas, Dr. Gogu said the process might take longer.

“It would probably be pharmacies that have compounding pharmacies in their system that would carry a level of THC or specialty pharmacies that would carry it,” he said.

Dr Gogu added that your primary care physician also needs to have a good relationship with the pharmacies that sell it, but said there are other hurdles patients might face.

“It’s just not widely available, and it’s just not widely known and there just aren’t a lot of doctors who are comfortable prescribing it,” Dr. Gogu said.

Although Texas law has advanced since 2015, Dr. Gogu hopes that once the expansion takes effect, access to medical marijuana will be easier for eligible patients.

“Once the education comes out. I think it will be easily more available to people, but I still think it’s relatively limited right now,” he added.

The new law also increases the THC dosage limit from 0.5% to 1%.